When author Beth Whitman generously offered to send me a copy of her new book, Wanderlust and Lipstick: The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo, it took me a few days to respond. After all, a guide geared toward women with “lipstick” in the title is the last book I would naturally pull from the shelves of my local Barnes and Noble. Being the crazy risk-taker that I am, I ultimately accepted, and it arrived in the mail a week later.

An overwhelming sense of curiosity lead me to open the book the same day I received it (a rarity for me). I quickly realized all of my (too embarrassing to mention) stereotypes about a guide for women travelers were unfounded. Beth weaves lessons learned from her own extensive travel experience with anecdotes from other women travelers of all ages. The result is a very inspiring read, regardless of one’s gender.

Chapters cover everything from the reasons a person should travel solo (with the first reason being my personal favorite, “freedom”) to handling the reverse culture shock of coming home after a trip (hint: find a friend willing to listen to your travel tales). Beth’s writing style, combined with the layout of the text, allow for even a slow reader like myself to make quick work of the 250 pages.

Published in March 2007, the guide is full of more than 150 websites covering almost all possible travel topics. Web referrals range from the well known, such as Flickr (photo storage), to the moderately known Globalfreeloaders (social network for travelers), to the downright strange, Onderwear (disposable underwear).

Judging from the amount of ink I spent on the pages of Wanderlust and Lipstick, I can confidently say there are valuable tips for seasoned travelers, as well as newbies. Among my favorites, are the following:

• Write down the name, address, and phone number of your accomodation in case you get lost, or a taxi driver cannot understand you.
• Eat your big meal at lunch, when you’re more comfortable eating alone (also cheaper, and allows more time in the day to burn calories).
• Use a messenger bag instead of a regular backpack during the day to appear less attractive to thieves.
• Take travel warnings with a grain of salt. Bali was listed by the US as unsafe after the 2002 bombings, yet the US government encouraged travel to New York City after 9/11.

If you are looking for a great inspirational read with practical tips, I recommend picking up a copy of Wanderlust and Lipstick before your next trip.

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Wanderlust and Lipstick: The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo by Beth Whitman is available through Amazon.com for $12.21. Beth also publishes a companion web site, Wanderlust and Lipstick.

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Traveling solo can be tough, but it’s not so bad when you have great hotels in Amsterdam to stay at.  If you are staying in Barcelona for a bull fight you might also be interested in hotels in Barcelona.  Don’t forget about the great Rome hotels that are also available.  Find a great place to stay!

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Shopping around for bargain airfare is one of the least sexy aspects of planning a trip, yet if you do your homework, the money saved can be well worth the effort. Enter AirNinja, a web site dedicated to increasing the public’s awareness of routes traveled by discount airlines. Given how little time I’ve spent researching airfare for my upcoming trip around the world, I was excited to learn about this service when they ordered a ReviewMe review to get the word out!

An Idea is Born

John Hostetler, one of AirNinja’s cofounders, created the site after traveling through Europe in 2004, finding discount flights for $20, versus the $200 prices listed on popular booking engines such as Orbitz and Kayak. The service is refreshingly straightforward, and as indicated on the About Us page, represents neither a travel agency nor airline.

Search and Save - A Case Study

To see if AirNinja can really save people money, I looked into the pre-tax cost of a one-way flight from Washington, DC to Los Angeles. The search interface was super simple. I started typing “Washington” and before I finished, the list of available airports in the Washington, DC area populated in a box below the search field. I had the option to select a specific airport, however I chose “All Airports” to give myself the most results. Once the departure area was selected, the arrival options populated. I selected “Los Angeles, CA - All Airports” and the discount airline companies (JetBlue and Southwest) and available routes they flew (between specific airports) appeared.

I clicked the JetBlue link and was transferred to their web site to evaluate pricing for a Thursday, November 1st departure date. Upon re-entering the search criteria, I found a 1-stop flight from Dulles, VA to Long Beach, CA for $159. Since that does not seem like a good deal, nor does it get me to international gateway airport LAX, I headed to Southwest. There, I found a direct flight from Dulles to LAX, my preferred airports, for $97.67.

Using Orbitz, I found a 1-stop US Airways flight for $137. I tried widening the search net to nearby airports, and found a 1-stop United Airlines flight from Dulles to Burbank, CA for $99. My search at Kayak duplicated the fares listed at Orbitz, though the United Airlines flight listed at a base cost of $92. While cost was comparable between the discounters and larger booking engines, AirNinja steered me to the only company I found with a direct flight. As my next leg would be to New Zealand, I would certainly book the direct flight with Southwest.

Final Thoughts

AirNinja’s web site design and search process are utilitarian and easy to use. In addition to discount routes, the option exists to search non-discount flights as listed on Kayak, Expedia, Travelocity, Hotwire, and Priceline. If the people behind AirNinja are trying to make money off of their service, it is certainly not evident. The only form of advertising I came across was the ubiquitous Google AdSense on the peripheral links for “World Facts” and “World Travel Pictures.”

To further improve upon the service, I would suggest the inclusion of safety information or ratings. While I am generally aware of the safety records of discount airlines in my own country, I am equally unaware of the frequency of crashes amongst foreign carriers.

Safety records aside, everyone agrees discount airlines can save travelers a lot of money. AirNinja’s service can simplify the process of researching the best airfares offered anywhere in the world.

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Four years ago, if you were visiting another country and hoped to stay in someone’s home for a more authentic cultural experience, you either needed to be in an exchange program, visiting family/friends, or extremely outgoing and personable (and being attractive wouldn’t hurt). As a result, independent travelers routinely stuck to their guidebook recommendations for hostels, pensions, and other assorted cheap lodgings. Travelers were more likely to experience a new city with other travelers from the tourist viewpoint, while interactions with locals were all too easily limited to those in the service industry.

And then CouchSurfing was launched in January 2004, and everything changed. The CouchSurfing Project is a social network unlike any other. Imagine a network of 227,000 people around the world (currently representing 218 countries) willing to open up and share their homes with fellow travelers for free. Now imagine no more, as this network is a reality, and ready for you to join today.

The Philosophy

The grandiose mission of CouchSurfing is to “participate in creating a better world, one couch at a time.” While free accommodations in exotic locales entice new surfers, the relationships and friendships which form as a result are where the true value lies. CouchSurfing capitalizes on people’s almost universal pride in their own culture. Hosting allows people to be tour guides in their own backyard. Eventually the host travels, and has the opportunity to benefit from others in the same way.

Independent travelers often see the best in people, a prerequisite if you are going to open your home to a stranger. And while giving a complete stranger the key (literally) to your kingdom may sound outrageous, to couchsurfers, it represents a bohemian ideal alive and well in our modern world.

Signing Up

Getting started with CouchSurfing is as simple as taking ten minutes to fill out a profile similar to those found on networking and dating sites, except for one unique question, “Do you have a couch available?” The term “couch” is used liberally, as some people have entire spare bedrooms available, while others can only offer a humble space on the floor (your author included). Besides yes and no responses, you also have the option to indicate you’re available for coffee or a drink. If you’re curious about CouchSurfing, though not ready to commit as a host, this option may net visitors (local or foreign) with whom you can meet up casually. Once the basic questions about yourself are answered, write a mission statement, map out your past and future travel destinations, upload a few photos, and you’re done!

The key feature of the web site is the CouchSearch, with which you search for people willing to host you. The interface is easy to use, and allows for progressively narrowing down the geographic area of interest. As to be expected, larger metropolitan areas such as Paris and New York City have a higher density of couches available than more rural locations. Luckily, it’s the big cities where you will save the most money when it comes to accommodations. Once you find someone of interest, you can e-mail them through the web site to begin a dialog.

Web Site Features

Aside from searching for your next place to stay, the CouchSurfing web site has a plethora of information to educate you on the scope and inner workings of the project. The Info page is filled with information about the founders, organization (including an org chart), FAQ, and project statistics. The United States has the highest number of surfers (26%, or 58,387) in a single country, while by region, Europe weighs in at a hefty 45% of the world’s surfers (102,548).

The Community page highlights the large number of people involved in running the project, from translators to tech geeks. Message boards and chat rooms help to facilitate online interaction, while volunteering to become an ambassador or signing up for a work (to advance the project) collective allow for real world meetings to further build the social network.

The Donate page touches on the non-profit nature of the organization (100% donation supported). As you explore the site, you will quickly notice it is completely free of advertising, a factor which greatly improves the user experience.

Regarding safety, the network is self-monitoring. Surfers and hosts have the ability to leave positive or negative references on one and others’ profiles. The more positive references a person accumulates, the more likely others will want to stay with him/her, or allow him/her to stay with them. There is a vouching process which allows more experienced and certifiably trusted users to vouch for less experienced surfers. Lastly, there is an optional 3-tier name and address verification process.

Final Words

Take a break from the hostel scene, and stay with the locals. You may find it hard to travel any other way!

Tomorrow I will share my first experience hosting a couchsurfer.

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Looking to travel in Europe?  Check out great Barcelona hotels while you’re in Spain, or awesome hotels in Rome when you visit the Colosseum.  Don’t forget that if you need a place to stay in Amsterdam there are affordable Amsterdam hotels available.

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Brunch at Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain was just what the doctor ordered after a crazy New York City night on the town. Kai, Reggie, and I met up with bachelor Chris and his friend Brian at the restaurant. They had already ordered a few cocktails to ease their hangovers. I started with a cappuccino and the delicious breads and flavored butter they brought us (so good we asked for a second basket).

The restaurant seemed about half full at 12:30 pm, which may have been a reflection of the holiday weekend. As I took in the interior design, I was reminded of the Food Network’s short documentary on the opening of the restaurant (as it was built very quickly - a few months max). I especially liked the amount of natural light coming in through all the windows, as well as the gigantic mirror over the bar.

I ordered the Shrimp and Grits with Bacon, Scallions and Garlic (pictured first). It was extremely rich and delicious. The rest of the table split a second order of it. For dessert (yes, even at brunch I can’t help myself), I ordered a special, Tahitian Vanilla Cheesecake (with a fruit compote). Normally I have trouble finishing cheesecake because of giant, super dense slices. I was more than happy to receive a smaller portion size (pictured above). I was especially surprised to find they topped it off with caramelized sugar, so there was a thin crust which provided a fun contrast in texture to the creamy cheesecake and soft bottom crust. The fresh blackberries and blueberries in syrup provided a little moisture as well.

Kai and Brian ordered Miss Stephanie’s Biscuits and Cream Gravy, Artisanal Ham, Sausage, and Scrambled Eggs. I believe the gravy was flavored with pepper. Chris ordered the Cracked Wheat Waffle, Cinnamon-Allspice Butter, and Blueberry Syrup.

The service started out well, however I thought it took a little too long for them to clear our plates. Brian was kind enough to pick up our entire tab, however I purposefully skipped the $12 cocktail to keep my cost under $50. The food was well worth the prices. I would definetly recommend a visit to this restaurant, with a brunch-specific warning that you may desire a nap afterwards.

Bar Americain website and Brunch menu

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InfoHub Specialty Travel Guide is a distributor of thousands of free travel brochures. In early 2007, after only a few minutes searching their directory of travel packages, I realized I needed to become an affiliate simply to ensure I kept such a great resource close at hand (really!).

My primary interest was finding a tour company for a trek in Nepal. A few clicks took me to countless packages by a variety of tour guides. It was a bit overwhelming to have so many options, however the layout of the directory is easy to follow. After you drill down into locations or categories of travel, information is presented in rows, including the name of the tour, highlights, duration, price, season, and destination. From the summary results, you can dig deeper into the details and itineraries of trips, as well as order free brochures.

As an affiliate, I earn $2 for each brochure mailed out, which in sales terms is treated as a “lead,” however recipients are under absolutely no obligation to buy travel packages through the tour operators sending them the information. I would kindly like to request readers of this blog consider ordering a brochure through my affiliate link, as it will help to support my future travels.

I encourage you to try searching for an activity or country and see if you don’t find yourself interested in getting more information, or even signing up to be an affiliate as well! At this time, they do not appear to have an affiliate referral program.

Extras: For visitors, the main site includes plenty of travel-related articles and a well-visited forum. Affiliates have access to a wide range of text and banner advertisements, as well as reports to track lead and sales generation.

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I was introduced to the services of MOO.com by my friend Andrew during a recent trip to New York City. We were sitting in a bar talking about our respective websites, when he whipped out one of his new business (mini) cards. I was immediately struck by the smaller than normal dimensions, specifically 20mm x 70 mm (roughly 1/3 the size of a typical card). On the front was a picture he had taken of a bicycle, the same he has on his blog header. On the back was his name, occupation (artist, educator, producer), website, and phone number. My first impression when he showed me the card was “cool, I want one!”

I had been tossing around the idea of buying a set of business cards or custom stickers for my trip so as to promote my website while traveling, however I was faced with the reality of being a less than stellar graphic artist. Seeing the great quality of Andrew’s cards, I realized my past travel photos would instantly fill the creative void I was going to face down the road.

Within a few days of returning home, I pulled up MOO’s website to customize my first set of cards. As he had informed me, you can order 100 MiniCards for $20, with the flexibility to choose a different image for each card. MOO allows you to upload images through their site, or access them via others, including Flickr. As I had begun to use Flickr a few months ago, I selected that option, followed by the MiniCard size (versus a larger Notecard size available).

The instructions indicated the process was as simple as 1 - Choose, 2 - Crop, 3 - Personalize, and 4 - Purchase. Once I had chosen the size, a page loaded with my Flickr photostream, and I began the challenging process of deciding which of my fantastic images should represent me, my blog, and my future travels! Once I had selected the lucky photos by (dragging and dropping in a box), I moved on to the cropping stage. The site makes this process easy, however I did swap about 20% of my photos after seeing how they looked with the cropping. You have to be judicious with only 1,400 square millimeters of space. The personalization options include 3 fonts, 9 font colors, 12 small images for the back side (including your Flickr profile photo), and the ability to add a variety of info to each card (such as title, license, or camera details). The final step is payment, and I was pleased to see the shipping was only $4.99, bringing the total cost to $24.98. The cards arrived within 2 weeks of my order.

The MOO experience is fun and lighthearted. It is filled with witty words from the company. For example, when I tried to backtrack using browser navigation, the expected page didn’t reload. Instead, I received an error message which stated “Oops, sorry, something untoward has occurred! An email has been sent to our hardworking developer bees.” The British humor cracked me up, and you don’t get the feeling they’re trying too hard either. A filler info card which I received along with my set says “Yay! You’re our new best friend.”

Yes, MOO is my new best friend, and if you’re looking for an easy, inexpensive, creative way to market yourself, your blog, or anything else, check out their printing services!

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Do you remember the last time a restaurant experience seemed like a finely choreographed dance performance? The food was presented and cooked perfectly, the service was stellar, the ambiance memorable, and the company and conversation just the way you like it?

My late night dinner at Blue Ribbon in the Soho district of Manhattan this past Saturday easily surpassed all of my expectations for the perfect meal. We ended up at their doorstep after several other restaurants’ kitchens closed at the seemingly early New York City hour of 11 pm. My friend Kai had mentioned they’re open late, and they serve bone marrow. The minute he mentioned such details, I realized we were about to eat at a restaurant featured on one of Anthony Bourdain’s TV shows. I remembered he said it’s the type of place where chefs go after they close up their own restaurants in the early morning hours. And it’s no wonder, with Blue Ribbon’s hours being 4 pm to 4 am, seven nights a week.

Upon walking into the nondescript front entrance, I was struck by the small bar and floor space. There were about 17 tables, and they were all full. We had a 30-40 minute wait, and while Kai suggested we find a bar elsewhere to wait, I was not leaving. We got a round of drinks and staked our space in anticipation of a great meal. We were seated around 12:15 am near the front of the room.

A quick scan of the menu’s appetizers revealed tempting treats such as Foie Gras Terrine and Escargot, though we were all there for the Beef Marrow and Oxtail Marmalade. We ordered one to share, along with a plate of Pirogies. Either Kai, or my brother Jon, insisted that I order a bottle of wine, though I was far from needing more alcohol at that point. The wine list was extensive, and I settled on a red, Cotes du Rhone. Our waiter delivered the wine promptly, and the taste test revealed a delicious choice.

Around 12:45 am, our appetizers arrived. The Beef Marrow was delivered with a few thin pieces of wood for us to scoop out the marrow, and a small bowl of sea salt. The marrow was gelatinous, and a bit hard to spread on the bread, however I managed to break it up into a few pieces to prolong the enjoyment. I’m not sure that I fully tasted the rich flavor of it, though the process of scooping it out of the bone, and onto the bread, only to top it with the sweet marmalade was enough to satisfy me. And heck, I was eating the same appetizer, in the same restaurant, as my culinary hero.

At 1:30 am, my Rack of Lamb with Spinach, Potato Cake, and Thyme arrived. The presentation was beautiful. Due to the low light, I didn’t truly appreciate the juicy, pink color until I viewed a digital photo on my computer a day later. It was hard to miss how perfectly the lamb was cooked though. It’s not a dish I normally order, and having experienced it cooked to medium-rare perfection at the Blue Ribbon, not likely something I’ll pick again anytime soon. The brown sauce was among the richest and tastiest I’d ever enjoyed. I devoured the potato cake, and left the spinach for Popeye.

Earlier, I had noticed only one chocolate option - Chocolate Bruno, on the dessert list. I ordered it, not quite sure what I was about to receive. As it turns out, Chocolate Bruno is a hockey-puck sized disk of chocolate. It was much denser than cake. When I took my first bite, I realized it was one of the best desserts I had ever tasted. I would describe the richness of flavor as what it must be like to eat the essence of chocolate. In racier terms, each bite was was an orgasmic experience. Three tablespoon-sized scoops of vanilla and chocolate ice cream surrounded the cake, and there was drizzled chocolate sauce over it all. A picture would not have done the dessert justice.

Overall, while I focused on the food, the service from our waiter was superb. The prices seemed lower than I would have expected for the quality of service and food delivered in an extremely well-rated Manhattan restaurant. Perhaps they want to keep those chefs coming back for more!

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Blue Ribbon Manhattan - 97 Sullivan St. (between Spring and Prince Streets), NY, NY 10012. Ph: 212-274-10012. Reservations are available for groups of 5-8 people. Average entree - $25.

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If you are committed to blogging, and intend to invest your time in building traffic and an audience, then why not try and earn some money back through simple, unobtrusive text link advertisements?

Text Link Ads was recommended to me by my good friend Kai, who works for Heavy.com, back in November 2006. At the time, I was still 2 months from starting this blog. My focus was GoBackpacking.com, which I began in 1999. I was completely unaware of the impact Google had on the Internet, and only later realized the value of a Page Rank 5 which I had earned based on my work through 2001 (I was on a web site hiatus for 5 years!).

So I applied for Text Link Ads with a PR=5, and an Alexa ranking somewhere well over 1,000,000. They accepted me November 20, 2006, and my inventory became available to advertisers two days later, after I successfully installed the PHP code on my front page (with a little help from my web hosting service). My traffic was anemic at the time, and TLA indicated only 3 ad spaces would be available, at a rate of $25 apiece, per month. I would earn 50% of the ad cost, to be paid monthly via PayPal.

Less than a week later, I received an e-mail on December 1, 2006 indicating I had sold my first ad! I was as giddy as a school girl. While $12.50 would only buy me a nice lunch at the time, I was more excited about the new potential income stream I had just tapped, as it would impact my ability to travel longer down the road! I was amazed at the fact that the hard part (which was fairly easy) was installing the ad code, and I just had to sit back as people paid me for working on a web site I loved to work on anyways!

How am I doing now? As I’ve sold more ads, I’ve been allowed to increase my inventory to a maximum of 10 spaces. I have 7 text ads currently running on the right sidebar. They are simple, and minding their own business in a most unassuming manner. Since starting the blog, I also have the option to sell links at the bottom of my RSS feed (though this has yet to occur). Last month I earned a new high of $96.19. My Page Rank remains 5, and my Alexa rank has fluctuated greatly over the past few months (currently at a 3-month average of 732,834).

I performed a Google search for minimum requirements to join Text Link Ads, and found some mixed messages. Everyone should apply though! If you get rejected, the advice I saw was to e-mail TLA to be reconsidered, and a human will respond (likely approving you). If you still don’t get in, then participate in the affiliate program which can earn you $25 for every new paid publisher or advertiser who signs up via your affiliation! As you continue to build traffic, reapply.

If you have questions about the service, or my experience with it, please leave a comment. I highly recommend it!

PS - My site was used as a case example of how Text Link Ads are effective for advertisers & bloggers alike. Check it out on the YoungGoGetter.com blog!

PSS - This is *not* a paid review…I am really this happy with the service!

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